CentraState Blog

Revisiting Resumes for Medical Professionals in 2018

Back in 2012, a study from The Ladders revealed that recruiters spend an average of six seconds reviewing a job candidate’s resume. It was a shocker for many job hunters, who scrambled to make resumes simpler and shorter. Format suddenly became a top priority.

What about resumes in 2018, particularly for medical professionals? A clean, visually appealing format continues to be important, but how you use that format to organize and highlight certain skills, knowledge and experience will determine whether you get an interview.

Here are six critical areas on a medical professional’s resume in 2018.

Caseload

This is often the first bullet point under a job heading, and rightfully so. What type of caseload have you managed? How many patients have you served? Did you collaborate with other medical professionals to treat patients? What kinds of outcomes did you deliver? Did your caseload present any specific challenges? If so, how did you overcome those challenges? Elaborate on these details to validate your experience.

Accomplishments

Too many medical professionals focus on day-to-day responsibilities when they should be highlighting accomplishments. If you served on a board or committee, led or contributed to the development of a new program, participated in educational initiatives, or trained new employees, share those details on your resume. Accomplishments that go beyond basic responsibilities are key to creating a value proposition that separates you from other candidates.

Expertise

Similar to accomplishments, certain skills and areas of expertise can grab the attention of recruiters. For example, do you have an extensive background in case management? Have you shown the ability to adapt to new technology, policies and regulations? Do you understand compliance requirements and know what to do in case of an audit? If you have a highly specialized skill set, it could be a point of differentiation on your resume.

Soft Skills

You can teach medical professionals how to perform certain tasks, but can you teach them how to have a good bedside manner? Personal attributes matter, especially for patient-facing roles. A positive attitude, empathy, communication skills, and the ability to handle pressure often seem subjective on the surface, so try to weave your soft skills into your accomplishments so they become more quantifiable.

Keywords

An application tracking system (ATS), which is used by most businesses today for recruitment, receives, stores and ranks resumes by comparing resume keywords to the job posting. The more aligned your resume is with the job posting, the better your chances of receiving a high ranking from the ATS and getting in front of a human recruiter. Also, keep your LinkedIn profile up to date and consistent with your resume.

Education

In some industries, education is almost an afterthought, especially if you’ve been out of school for more than a few years. That’s not the case in the medical field. Many positions have very specific requirements in terms of degrees, certifications and training, so make sure you don’t gloss over your education.

As a medical professional, your resume from 10 years ago or even five years ago will probably need to be updated for 2018. Use these tips to showcase your experience and skills and distinguish yourself from other candidates.

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